Closing Bell: Sounds of Brooklyn
Brooklyn-based history-obsessed band Pinataland performs songs about Silas Deane, for whom Dean Street—where this photo was taken—is named, and Topsy, the elephant electrocuted at Coney Island in 1903. They’re playing a free outdoor show this Saturday, 7PM at Park Slope’s Old Stone House to celebrate the release of their new CD, Songs for the Forgotten…
Brooklyn-based history-obsessed band Pinataland performs songs about Silas Deane, for whom Dean Street—where this photo was taken—is named, and Topsy, the elephant electrocuted at Coney Island in 1903. They’re playing a free outdoor show this Saturday, 7PM at Park Slope’s Old Stone House to celebrate the release of their new CD, Songs for the Forgotten Future Vol. 2. They’re not the only ones bringing Brooklyn to song. Joshua Camp, one half of the Brooklyn-based musical duo One Ring Zero, has embarked on a new project: celebrate Prospect Park aurally, with eight songs inspired by Frederick Law Olmstead’s most beloved creation, called, appropriately enough, Eight Prospects. What’ll he make of the BQE?
Well, there already was a BQE piece at BAM Next Wave 2007:
THE BQE
COMPOSED AND PERFORMED BY SUFJAN STEVENS
http://www.bam.org/events/08SUFJ/08SUFJ.aspx
“The BQE—a symphonic and cinematic exploration of one of New York’s least celebrated monuments: the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.”
“Robert Moses’ controversial 11.7-mile roadway tears through neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens with the brute force of modern urban planning, and in Stevens’ hands becomes an evocation of the intersection of intimate experience and the American Dream. Merging a virtual road trip shot on film with a live band and orchestral ensemble, The BQE discovers abstract patterns and stories in the snaking traffic, potholed pavement, billboards, badly marked exits, and beautiful city views, revealing what happens when Manifest Destiny converges with urban blight.”